Is Happy’s Place, Reba McEntire’s new series, worth your valuable TV-watching time? Find out in our Happy’s Place Review!
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Reba McEntire is back in the realm of sitcoms with a new series, but she brought some familiar faces along with her.
Happy’s Place takes place after the death of Bobbie’s (McEntire) father, and she has inherited his tavern. Just as everything is settling in, a woman named Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) arrives at the bar and Bobbie learns that her dad had an affair and this is Bobbie’s much younger half-sister, and their Dad wants them both to run the bar. While Bobbie is reluctant, the employees quickly embrace Isabella and recommend that Bobbie does the same. Needless to say, she does, and the premise of the series is established that the two of them will not only have to learn to run the bar together but to be sisters as well.
There is a lot of familiarity with the series from the moment it starts. McEntire brought along Melissa Peterman from Reba and they are playing a very similar relationship where Peterman’s character wants nothing more than to be friends with McEntire’s. The chemistry between the two is just as strong as it has ever been, and the only complaint I had about it was there wasn’t enough Peterman in the two episodes NBC supplied.
McEntire kept the series even more in the family as her long-time partner Rex Linn plays Emmett, the wisened chef of the bar that everyone comes to for advice.
There are a few other characters are quickly established: Steve (Pablo Castelblanco), the germaphobe accountant who seems to think he needs to be at the bar every hour it’s open, and Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), the not-so-quick but lovable waiter of the tavern.
The show is fine and quickly falls into typical sitcom tropes, but it feels like it misses out on some really interesting character moments early on. While Bobbie has issues with the fact her father had a hidden child, Isabella seems to just embrace it and run with it. There is no sign of anger from her, but instead nothing but a want to embrace Bobbie and this new family of hers. While it’s true a sitcom is meant to make us laugh, this introduction to the world rang so unrealistic that it was distracting.
Speaking of distraction, we need to address the set itself.
Pictured: (l-r) Belissa Escobedo as Isabella, Melissa Peterman as Gabby, Reba McEntire as Bobbie, Pablo Castelblanco as Steve — (Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC)
There is something off with the scale of the bar. It’s supposed to be the centerpiece of the set, and while I can put up with the length, the height is distracting. Perhaps it’s the height of Peterman, but there is something visually off with this set. It is only really noticeable in the wide shots, and close-ups are fine. Perhaps someday, it will change, but for now, it is just visually off.
Happy’s Place is not breaking any new ground in the realm of the multicam sitcom, but it seems unlikely anyone thought it would. It’s exactly what it needs to be and feels like a comfortable pair of shoes from the moment it starts. There seems like there is a good chance this series will run for as long as the players are interested in keeping it going.
SCORE: 7 out of 10
Disclaimer: NBC provided The Nerdy with two episodes of Happy’s Place Season 1 for the purposes of this review. We watched both episodes to completition before beginning this review.
